This could be Part Two to last week’s post, but I didn’t intend it that way. It just happened.
Have you noticed how many things in our lives are overly dramatic?
A generation or two ago when “news” was delivered a half-hour here and there and TV, radio and newspapers dominated, dramatic stories were covered and some of them were “manufactured” stories for ratings or circulation purposes. But in general, events best observed over the long-term were treated with less drama.
And then along came cable television, the internet, social media and camera phones and we started making drama where none previously existed. Now everything is dramatic.
“Oh my gosh, stop the church service, I just got a video of a guy pulling old tree trunks out of a river!”
“Will Bob and Betty have budget for their kitchen remodel or will they be cooking on an outdoor campfire? Will their children need to live with grandma in Montana if the pergola is not finished in time? Find out after these commercial messages from Home Depot!”
“Hey everyone, here’s a picture of my lunch!”
Things that heretofore were everyday parts of real life are now high drama in reality TV programs. And when high drama wears thin and viewers grow weary, we turn to mega-high manufactured drama. I think that is why Youtube was built.
Throw a bunch of poisonous snakes into the basement of that house we are rehabbing and then you got real fun.
Weather was once quick info about tomorrow and only where you live. Now we have the Weather Channel and track the long-term forecast for places thousands of miles from us and discuss at length how it will affect our lives in two months based on computer models.
Cancel that picnic in six weeks. That weather system over western China looks pretty bad.
The stock market used to be a place where you invested your money for long-term gain and looked at the performance of your investments once in a while in the newspaper.
Now, multiple financial TV channels create drama by treating it like a ride at Disneyland. A stock might have gone up 5% during the day, but when it was down 5% earlier that morning commentators were talking about who needed to be fired at the company for their mismanagement. Oh, wait, the stock is up now. Never mind.
I think once we started all this manufactured drama, it affected all parts of life and we feel the need to create drama everywhere. Even in book publishing.
It’s called impatience.
Only God has the power to make something from nothing.
Not true.
Impatience is manufactured out of thin air so humans must be pretty powerful as well. (Insert appropriate emoticon here depending on how that last sentence affected you)
Publishers who work to publish a book for a year and then give it 90 days to either succeed or fail are guilty of this.
Authors who treat writing books like playing the lottery rather than an ongoing developmental process are likewise creating drama where none previously existed.
Publishing books is an example of long-term development, like the weather and finance, but many people treat it like it was reality television. Combining some publishers’ unwillingness to develop authors long-term with authors’ desire to be published, famous and wealthy before the end of the year and we have a toxic brew of ingredients that have never worked well together.
I have been guilty of sometimes being critical of indie publishing, but certainly there is an aspect of impatience that drives some of it, but not all.
Publishing impatience is a recipe for disappointment. There is nothing fast and immediate about a book. Impatience is manufactured drama just like a guy walking into a pawnshop with his comic book collection and needing money for a vacation.
(Yawn)
Some current best-selling authors did not do well with their first book published years earlier. Not to mention their sales in the first 90 days. The publisher and author exercised patience and it worked out well in the long run.
Some authors write and work for decades before a first book is published.
Some authors are more famous and sell better after they die. (I am exercising my gift of discouragement here)
Some publishers and authors give up too soon, but there is no way to prove that conclusively. (That was supposed to be a joke. Lighten up!)
Book publishing is becoming less and less a process of committed long-term development and more about immediate performance. And authors, publishers and yes, agents are part of that trend. (Kudos to those who see the long-term and show patience where necessary)
Some authors need multiple books to get their sales going. Knowing which authors fit that model is more a function of “artistic wisdom” than scientific research and makes book publishing interesting.
Authors need to view their writing with more patience as well and leave the real drama for the story they are writing.
Book Sales Continue to Rise
Hi Dan,
I just emailed a friend and mentioned God’s timing was perfect. I know His timing is perfect because He is perfect.
When I move into panic mode about my writing, I have to remind myself of this and try to calm down. With God all things are possible, and I don’t want to rush the process.
Thanks for sharing!
Such a great post, Dan. In our microwave society, it’s hard to exercise patience. We get lots of news right now. We get weather forecasts for the next ten days and plan (or cancel) camping trips, and other trips, as a result. As writers, we read about the genres trending right now, and we hurry to jump onto the bandwagon. I found it interesting to note that publishers have fallen into the impatient mindset as well.
For me personally, as a writer, I’m learning to practice patience with my writing. God’s timing is different from my own in terms of becoming agented and published. And I’ve learned that His timing is always the best timing. Regardless of what’s going on in the world around me.
Great post.
To me, patience is simply discipline and applied forethought.
A case in point – anyone who’s flown a first or second generation jet knows that to execute a rejected landing, the throttle has to be moved to full power very slowly, and therefore the approach itself has to be managed with care.
Impatience will simply result in what’s charmingly called a ‘chuff-back’ from the turbine, and a period of silence whilst gravity prepares to apply its harsh lesson.
Years ago, a very public figure was criticized with the zinging comment: “For her, instant gratification takes too long.” I play that back to myself at appropriate times. Breathe in, breathe out. Get back to work.
Thank you for the reality check, good laugh and reminder that any good work takes time, perseverance and diligent effort.
This is my first time trying to get a book published the traditional way. It has been a real lesson in patience (and I thought I was patient before).
We can learn to identify media hype as such, and then take it with a grain of salt. For example, weather here in Ohio has always been unpredictable, and predictions made more than two days out are suspect for that reason alone.
And like some others here, I rely on faith to keep me patient. Next year could be an ideal time for my non-fiction book to come out (as my e-mail address and website might suggest). If what I am doing is God’s will, beyond my own diligence He will make it work.
Excellent post, Dan. Thank you. I always benefit from your words.
Had to laugh when I saw my post. My name’s Ann Shorey, not Ann Shoret! Must have been too impatient and posted without proofreading. 🙂
“Publishers who work to publish a book for a year and then give it 90 days to either succeed or fail are guilty of this.”
Yes! I would agree. Years ago it seems that an author was given a book or two to find her readers. Now if the first book doesn’t break out right away…
I’m an indie author, and it’s interesting that the sales graph for me has grown substantially the longer the book has been out. It’s definitely a different method of selling than traditional publishing and it does require patience–yet it shows that patience works. My best sales months have all been this year, and my book will turn one next month. When you’re a new author, it takes time for readers to find you–and then decide to take a risk on you. So patience, for everyone involved in a book, is a good, good thing.
What’s also interesting is that a few of those authors whose first books didn’t sell as much as the publisher wanted have now turned to indie publishing and are finding success. They’re building on the foundation the publisher helped them build and then abandoned. And they’re doing very well. So that’s my take from my indie side of the publishing pond. 🙂 You’ll never go wrong with patience.
One of the things I told my kids all the time was “Patience is a virtue; cultivate it.” I knew I’d had an impact when I was trying to hustle the kids out the door one school morning when we were running late. My then-eight-year-old daughter looked up at me and said, “Patience is a virtue, Mommy.”
Patience is a virtue, but without some sense of urgency, nothing happens. The key is finding the right balance. When it comes to sharing the Gospel, the listener’s heart must be ready to hear (patience for the right moment, patience in sharing however many times it takes), but you never know if that person has another day to live or if you’ll ever have another chance to share (urgency, not impatience).
So where is the right balance? If the message of a book has the potential to lead people to Jesus, is it right to go the traditional route? There is a higher likelihood of market penetration, but with all its delays, there is also the expectation that two years or more will pass before the book can speak to people who need to hear its message now. Is it better to go indie? There can be a more immediate release, but the price is all the time-and-effort overhead of being an independent businessperson struggling (and maybe failing) to get the book into circulation when your true gift and calling may only be writing.
How does God want you to steward your talent? Prayer is crucial, but there are times when I’m not sure I’m hearing His answer because I think I know what answer I want. Do I even know what I want, or do I only think I do because I lack enough information to decide correctly? Patience is a virtue, but for how long?
Here’s my impossible question of the week for you: how long is too long and what is the reasonable outer limit of effort to get published traditionally? What are the signs that an author has reached that point and should give up or at least move on to alternatives?
There really is no hard and fast principle to guide here. If you are a speaker and need resources to sell at your events, don’t wait for two years on a traditional contract, get some resources indie published to support the speaking. Traditional publishers will be impressed by your “test marketing”.
Fiction is different altogether. If you indie publish a title that does not sell well, you might have “poisoned the well” so to speak. But if you find a market and start to sell well, the test-marketing worked.
Either way, I would ask for wise counsel from people who might know your specific case. It would be simpler if the decision was a black and white, good vs. evil sort of thing. But it is not.
Whatever the case, do nothing in haste.
Thanks for your wise counsel, Dan. I knew you’d take a swing even at a hard one. So it’s patience, prayer, and urgency when that’s prayer’s answer. It would be so much easier if God would just give me a Gantt chart for each book!
It’s hard to be patient… as you’ve said, from everyone’s perspective. I admit to being impatient… but feel like the next generation is even less patient than mine. As a writer, patience is hard. Waiting can make you doubt your abilities and question whether this is God’s plan for your life. It also allows the evil one a foothold if you allow him.
Thanks for the reminder to be patient… guess prayer in the waiting might be a good practice.
“Cancel that picnic in six weeks. That weather system over western China looks pretty bad.” And I had planned on homemade scones!
Thank you for the cheeky reminder. I know I need it on a weekly basis – so, same time next week for Part 3?
There won’t be a Part #3 on this theme…my patience runs out at two weeks.
🙂
Dan, you mention indies here and how they fit into this problem … but not all. And you are very right … on both sides. Yes, there are those who may indie publish because they lack the patience of going through the process of honing their skill, finding an agent, and getting a contract. However, the successful indie is the one who is planning a long-term strategy requiring patience. One of the greatest incentives for me to go indie was discovering the impatience of the traditional world to see a book (and author) through to its potential. I was aghast to discover books were sent back—or worse, destroyed—if they didn’t sell within a short period of time. As a reader, I have abandoned going to brick and mortar Christian book stores because they no longer sell classics (like anything by C.S. Lewis)—apparently not flying of the shelves fast enough. And they had tons of empty shelf space!!! Empty shelf space is not congruent to the visual appeal of a book store to an avid reader like myself. I like to go into a store, see ALL the possibilities in the form of FULL SHELVES, and know the odds are I will come home with a good read.
Oops! Sorry, got of track there.
Anyway, the successful indie author knows it is not about a book, but a career. She is thinking multiple books, lowering the price of one to sell the other, writing in a series to hook readers long-term (because current books are the best marketing for future books), creating incentives to get readers to sign up for her newsletter. And of course, producing a product good enough to make the reader come back for more!!! If the INDIE author is not patient, she too will be discouraged. Those of us who are active in the indie community know this because the indie community teaches it. It is not a get-rich-quick scheme by any means. But one of its greatest advantages over traditional is that it does not have the impatient destruction of tortoise-sellers (think of the classic tale) as part of its business plan.
As an unpublished writer who has been writing in that decades category, I will say that the need for patience is hard. But also patience helps me grow as a writer and as a Christian I understand everything happens in God’s time. Still as the years go by…sigh. All of this impatience is indeed reflective of the culture we live in where instant gratification and in some cases entitlement – rule. Thank you for this insightful post.
well….when you put it like THAT!! Ha! Patience certainly is not my virtue. But God is teaching me day by day…it isn’t the destination but the journey that brings immense joy and satisfaction. Great post Dan!
Dan,
I’ve wrote this before, but this agency has a way of telling the truth, the good, bad and ugly, in a genuine way that leaves me encouraged. Thank you for presenting this issue in a real way.
“Book publishing is becoming less and less a process of committed long-term development and more about immediate performance.” I agree. Great story telling cannot be rushed. In one of my writing circles, a majority of the people are all about get published, published, published, contract, contract, contract! And when I talk about taking the time to get the story right, I get nods and ‘good for you for waiting’ type comments. Shouldn’t we all want our work to to be it’s best? I fear it’s not looking to be that way with some.
Thank you Dan for an encouraging post.
Also many thanks to all of you who commented.
I stop by this site to learn everyday and have not been disappointed – ever!